ANA Investigates

Football fans may remember in January 2023 when Damar Hamlin, a player for the Buffalo Bills, suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field during a game on live television. He had a remarkable neurologic recovery, prompting us to focus our podcast that month on the need to avoid nihilism when we prognosticate after cardiac arrest. But what is the right balance between pessimism and optimis...

Glioblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor and one of the most aggressive solid tumors. Much progress has been made in the understanding and classification of gliomas, but progress in terms of prolonging survival has been limited. Several recent investigational therapies are bringing new hope. Our guest today is Dr. Eric Wong from Brown University. He is an international expert on advan...

Brain death is one of the most controversial and ethically complex topics in neurology, but it's a regular part of our clinical practice. Late last year, a new set of guidelines was published that address some of the thorniest technical and ethical issues in the clinical determination of brain death. For this discussion, we are joined by Dr. Ariane Lewis, a professor in the departments of Neurolog...

Small fiber neuropathy is one of those conditions in neurology that can feel frustratingly intangible. Even for patients with severe neuropathic pain and autonomic symptoms, in about half of cases, the usual lab testing doesn't reveal a cause. There's increasing evidence that autoimmunity may be a factor in some of these cases of idiopathic small fiber neuropathy, but how to test and who to treat...

The recent FDA approval of lecanemab, an amyloid-sequestering agent, has been hailed as a breakthrough in the treatment of Alzheimer disease. Critics of the drug have pointed to its cost, risks, and treatment burden. Now that lecanemab is being administered in clinics across the country - how is it changing the lives of people with Alzheimers and their families? Dr. Megan Richie, neurohospitalist...

Chronic pain can be incredibly challenging -- for patients, of course, and also for their physicians. On this episode of ANA investigates, Dr. Adeline Goss talks to Dr. Prasad Shirvalkar of UCSF about a new possible strategy for treating chronic pain: deep brain stimulation. Series 5, Episode 2 Featuring: Guest: Dr. Prasad Shirvalkar of UCSF Interviewer: Dr. Adeline Goss Disclosures: Dr. Shirvalka...

The brain and its vasculature used to be considered separate domains. But in the last decade, we've learned more about the interplay between brain cells and vascular cells. Pathological studies are revealing a surprising degree of overlap between cerebrovascular disease and neurodegenerative disease. All of this has led to the coining of a new word: the neurovasculome. Our guest today is Dr. Eric...

As the ANA's 2023 Annual Meeting comes to a close, we wanted to catch up with Frances Jensen Chair of the Department of Neurology at University of Pennsylvania and outgoing President of the ANA, and Rebecca Gottesman, Stroke Branch Chief of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and outgoing Chair of the Annual Meeting Planning Committee. Listen as these two leaders chat about...

A growing body of research suggests that people with insomnia are at higher risk of stroke. Listen today as we dive into how sleep health, stroke, and the nervous system all have an affect on each other. Series 4, Episode 11 Featuring: Guest: Dr. .Sonja Schuetz, University of Michigan Interviewer: Dr. Joseph Carerra, University of Michigan Disclosures: Dr. Schuetz reports funding from contracts be...

Lysosomal storage diseases are progressive, inherited disorders of metabolism, many with devastating effects on the nervous system. Some of these diseases, like Infantile-Onset Pompe disease, can be treated to some degree in childhood by giving back the missing enzyme - a strategy called enzyme replacement therapy, or ERT. But a recent study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine goes a s...

A recent study in JAMA Neurology found an association between contaminated water at a military base in the 1970s-80s and the risk of Parkinson's disease in military service members. What do we know about Parkinson's and environmental toxins? Series 4, Episode 9 Featuring: Guest: Dr. Ray Dorsey, University of Rochester Interviewer: Dr. Sara Stern-Nezer, UC Irvine Disclosures: This episode does not...

There are trillions of bacteria living inside each of our gastrointestinal tracts and there's growing evidence that those bacteria communicate with the brain. Some researchers are even hopeful that drugs targeted at the gut microbiome could help treat diseases as diverse as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, or autism. The nature of this so-called "gut-brain axis" -- the extent to which bact...

Recently on the podcast we've been talking about neurotechnology -- devices that interface with the brain to treat disease, for example by restoring speech function in people with locked-in syndrome, or motor function in people with paralyzed limbs. But listen to the media, and you'll also hear buzz about neurotechnology for healthy people... Series 4, Episode 7 Featuring: Guest: Philip Sabes, PhD...

Among several highlights of the recent International Stroke Conference was new evidence supporting endovascular thrombectomy for patients with so-called "large core" ischemic strokes. In current practice, thrombectomy is considered for patients with occlusions of the internal carotid or middle cerebral artery who are less than 24 hours since the last known well and have a small "core" of ischemia...

Concussion, or mild acute traumatic brain injury, is incredibly common -- 1 in 5 of adolescents report having suffered a concussion at some point in their lifetime (JAMA. 2021;325(17):1789-1791)... and an estimated 1 in 5 players of contact sports suffer a concussion each season. Sports neurologists are rare enough that most people suffering concussions are never seen by one. And general neurologi...

On our December show, we talked about ethical issues surrounding brain-computer interfaces. We'll pick up the topic again this month with a discussion about one type of brain-computer interface: neuroprosthetics. Our guest is Dr. Edward Chang, Professor and Chair of Neurological Surgery at the University of California San Francisco. Dr. Chang is an expert in brain mapping during neurosurgery, with...

Football audiences were shaken on January 2nd when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest after a tackle during a Monday Night Football game. He was resuscitated on the field and then transferred to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in critical condition. Thus began a waiting period, all too familiar to neurologists, while the world wondered to what extent Mr. Hamlin...

The emergence of the syndrome known as long COVID has brought new attention to myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). In this episode, we explore the advances in science that may soon lead to answers. Series 4, Episode 2. Featuring: Guests: Drs. Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik & Kiran Thapaliya from the National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED), Griffith Univ...

Neurotechnology like DBS or transcranial magnetic stimulation have clear benefits in diagnosis and therapy and are largely embraced by the medical community. But what about recent accelerated development from tech entrepreneurs to harness cognitive pathways for everyday tasks? This is referred to as brain computer interface technology or BCI. Commercial products such as Neuralink, attempt to impla...

The role of genetics in both pediatric and adult epilepsies is expanding. Now, making a genetic diagnosis in epilepsy isn't just important for family planning and prognostication - these diagnoses can also improve patients' care starting at the moment of diagnosis. Our guest today, Ingrid Scheffer, is a leader in gene discovery in epilepsy. Dr. Scheffer is a Laureate Professor of Pediatric Neurolo...

Equitable tele-neurologic care starts with first identifying disparities, then identifying how to overcome them – learn about both with Dr. Lee Schwamm on the latest ANA Investigates. Series 3, Episode 11. Featuring: Guest: Dr. Lee Schwamm, C Miller Fisher Endowed Chair in Vascular Neurology and the Director of the Center for TeleHealth at Massachusetts General Hospital, Professor of Neurology at...

Late last month, the journal Science published an investigative report that accused a much-cited publication in Alzheimer's disease... of fabricating scientific images. The study under scrutiny was published in Nature in 2006 by Sylvain Lesné and colleagues. It claimed that an amyloid oligomer called Aβ*56 impaired memory in mice. The recent Science report found potential fabrication in the images...

Last month on the podcast, we talked about updates in the diagnosis of autoimmune encephalitis. This month we turn to advances in the treatment of autoimmune encephalitis. Treating these conditions has traditionally been practitioner-dependent, and currently no FDA-approved therapies exist. But that's beginning to change. Series 3, Episode 9. Featuring: Guest: Dr. Maarten Titulaer, Erasmus MC Univ...

On today's episode, Dr. Adeline Goss interviews Dr. Andrew McKeon on updates on diagnostics for part one of a two-part series on autoimmune encephalitis. Series 3, Episode 8. Featuring: Guest: Andrew McKeon, M.B., B.Ch., M.D., Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science Interviewer/Producer: Adeline Goss, MD, Highland Hospital Disclosures: Dr. McKeon disclosed that he is a consultant for Johnson &...

On today's episode, we discuss the term "TIA" and the current debate as it pertains to advances in stroke diagnostics that have led some to propose that we retire the term. Series 3, Episode 7. Featuring: Guest: Clay Johnston, MD, PhD, The University of Texas at Austin Interviewer/Producer: Megan Richie, MD, UCSF Disclosures: Dr. Johnston disclosed research support from AstraZeneca for the THALES...